the symbolic assimilation of head and sun as expressed by headrests

The Symbolic Assimilation of Head and Sun as Expressed by HeadrestsAuthor(s): Bart R. HellinckxSource: Studien zur Altgyptischen Kultur, Bd. 29 (2001), pp. 61-95Published by: Helmut Buske Verlag GmbHStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152838 .Accessed: 02/06/2014 11:23

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The symbolic assimilation of head and sun

as expressed by headrests*

von

Bart R. Hellinckx

Abstract

The way in which the headrest assimilated the head with the sun is examined. An analysis of the decoration,

shape, material, and colour of a number of headrests, as well as a short survey of the funerary literature,

teaches us that the assimilation of the head and the sun is realized in three ways, namely by equating the

headrest symbolically to the akhet, to the sky, or to both of them. The symbolism, which is attested from

the end of the First Intermediate Period onwards, has to be seen against the background of the funerary beliefs and the conception of sleep.

1 Introduction

During the preparation of an article on the solar representations near the head-end of

coffins1, it was noticed that the way in which the assimilation of the head and the sun is

expressed by headrests had not yet been properly studied. Though many scholars have

noted the parallelism between a headrest occupied by a head and the akhet or horizon

hieroglyph2, most of them gave only passing attention to it. In the LA-contribution

My sincere thanks are due to Prof. H. Willems for his comments, and to T.L. Sagrillo for polishing my

English and for some suggestions. Of course I am fully responsable for the present, final version. 1 See now B.R. Hellinckx, Solar images near the head-end of coffins and their relationship with the

mummy, forthcoming. 2 B. Bruyere, Rapport sur les fouilles de Deir el Medineh (1934-1935) IE, FIFAO 16, 1939, 228, 232; C. Desroches-Noblecourt, Vie et mort d'un pharaon: Toutankhamon, 1963, 236; P. Barguet, Le livre des morts des anciens egyptiens, LAPO, 1967,239, n. 1; C. Desroches-Noblecourt (ed.), Toutankhamon et son temps, cat. of exhibition in Paris, 1967, 186; E. Delange/ C. Ziegler, La vie au bord du Nil au

temps des pharaons, cat. of exhibition in Calais, 1980, 55; J.-P. Corteggiani, Centenaire de l'lnstitut

frangais d'acheologie orientale, cat. of exhibition in Cairo, 1981, 50; C. Desroches Noblecourt/ J. Vercoutter (eds.), Un siecle de fouilles franchises en Egypte 1880-1980, cat. of exhibition in Cairo, 1981, 214; J. Parlebas, in: Ktema 7, 1982, 20-21; C. Sourdive, La main dans l'Egypte pharaonique, 1984, 256-57, 260; C. Desroches Noblecourt, The Great Pharaoh Ramses E and his Time, cat. of

exhibition in Vancouver, 1985, No. 40; E. Leospo, in: A.M. Donadoni Roveri (ed.), Egyptian Museum of Turin. Egyptian Civilization: Daily Life, 1987, 133, 136; D. Austin (ed.), Les cultes funeraires en

Egypte et en Nubie, cat. of exhibition in Calais, 1987,63; C. Muller-Winkler, Die agyptischen Objekt Amulette, OBO SA 5,1987,326; B. Affholder-Gerard/M.-J. Comic, Angers, Musee Pince. Collections

egyptiennes, Inventaire des collections publiques franchises 35,1990,157; M. Gabolde, Catalogue des

antiquites egyptiennes du musee Joseph Dechelette, 1990, 244; H. Milde, The Vignettes in the Book of the Dead of Neferrenpet, EU 7, 1991, 231, n. 5; R.H. Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 1992, 69, 159; I. Franco, Rites et croyances d'eternite, Bibliotheque de l'Egypte ancienne, 1993, 197;

C. Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt, 1994,95; R.H. Wilkinson, Symbol and Magic in Egyptian Art, 1994,90,158,166; P. Der Manuelian, in: J.M. Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East IE, 1995, 1633; M. Huttner, Mumienamulette im Totenbrauchtum der Spatzeit, Verbffentlichungen der Institute fiir Afrikanistik und Agyptologie der Universitat Wien 67, Beitrage zur Agyptologie 12,1995,

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

62 B.R. Hellinckx SAK 29

?Kopfstiitze"3 not a word is said about this important aspect of the headrest, and Perraud's

recent (as yet unpublished) doctoral dissertation on headrests4 contains some interesting observations on the subject, but fails to provide an overall synthesis. To remedy this lack

somewhat and to create a starting point for further investigations, the present paper will

discuss what are felt to be some of the most important sources concerning the solar

symbolism of the headrest. Five decorative elements that seem to assimilate the head and

the sun will be the first focus of attention.

2 Analysis

2.1 Decoration

2.1.1 A male figure j|| The central pillar of a famous ivory headrest llltlk y^llF from Tutankhamun's tomb (fig. 1 )5 consists of ^?i:;|t!^^^^^P^ a male figure kneeling and holding with up- ^^SK^ raised arms the curved upper section. On the V-rifl top of the base, flanking the anthropomorphic >^_ _ iLiIi ,&&* pillar and facing away from it, are two ^^^^^qP^^^'"' ^Isl couchant lions.

~ i*-^=^^

It is generally assumed the central figure Fig. 1: A headrest of Tutankhamun (after

represents Shu6, but the role which he plays Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 68, ill. 4).

45; I. Shaw/ P. Nicholson, British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, 1995, 162, 270; B. Liischer,

Untersuchungen zu Totenbuch Spruch 151, SAT 2, 1998, 294. 3

H.G. Fischer, in: LA IE, 1980, cols. 686-693, s.v. Kopfstiitze. 4 M. Perraud, Appuis-tete de l'Egypte pharaonique: typologie et significations 1.1 -2, E. 1 -4, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation Strasbourg, 1997. Though mainly outside the scope of the present article, the

following recent contributions on Egyptian headrests by the same scholar may be noted: M. Perraud, in: Histoire et anthropologic No. 3, April-June 1993, 20-26; idem, in: GM 165, 1998, 83-90; idem, in:

RdE 49, 1998, 161-166, pis. xxii-xxv. 5 Cairo JE 62020 (Exhib. No. 533): H. Murray/ M. Nuttall, A Handlist to Howard Carter's Catalogue of

Objects in Tut'ankhamun's Tomb, TTSO 1, 1963, 14 (Carter No. 403c); PM I.22, 576; H. Beinlich/ M. Saleh, Corpus der hieroglyphisehen Inschriften aus dem Grab des Tutanchamun, 1989,184. See also

the references in the following notes. 6 Only two authors have a slightly deviant opinion. Fischer, in: LA IE, col. 692, n. 67, called the figure Heh, without further comment. Sourdive, La main, 258,260,262, accepted Fischer's identification and believed Heh is depicted as the personification of eternity rather than as a cosmic deity. According to him, the object is ?une metaphore decorative" expressing ?les millions d'annees". Whereas it is undeniable that many objects from Tutankhamun's tomb are decorated with a Heh who wishes the king a long life (see e.g. one of his chairs, Cairo JE 62029: Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 38-39), the absence of the year-sign(s), as well as the supportive function of the figure seem to contradict such an

interpretation. On the other hand, it is not impossible that the figure represents Heh as a sky support. For the assimilation of Heh and Shu as sky support, see H. Bonnet, RARG, 1952, 268; D. Kurth, Den Himmel stiitzen, RE 2,1975,103-104; H. Altenmiiller, in: LA E, 1977, cols. 1082-1083, s.v. Heh. That both deities are interchangeable in this role most clearly appears in scenes of the separation of heaven


2001 The symbolic assimilation of head and sun 63

here has been explained in three different ways. Firstly, Carter's view, widely known and

generally accepted, is that the object is an illustration of the separation of the sky goddess

Nut from the earth god Geb by the air and light god Shu7. Most scholars assume the curved

top symbolically represents the sky and the base of the headrest symbolizes the earth. It

follows that when the king's head rested on the upper section, the monarch lay with his

head in heaven and was identified with the sun and the stars. According to a few authors

the Shu-shaped headrest expresses that the person whose head rests on the upper curve is

assimilated with the sky-goddess8. This explanation seems to be based on a ?misreading"

of the object because there is no external evidence that the sleeper or the deceased strove

to be identified with the sky-goddess.

The second interpretation is only a slightly modified variant of Carter's explanation9. It links the object with the conception that the sky goddess (whether depicted as a woman

or as a cow) is supported by Shu (see e.g. the Nut-image in Seti Fs cenotaph in Abydos and

and earth. Frequently an ostrich feather on the head of the god that supports Nut denotes that he is Shu; see A. Niwiriski, La seconde trouvaille de Deir el-Bahari (Sarcophages) 1.2, CG, 1995,17, fig. 7, 107,

fig. 85. Sporadically, however, the head of the supporting figure is surmounted by a year-sign, the

symbol of Heh, see e.g. E. Chassinat, La seconde trouvaille de Deir el-Bahari (sarcophages) 1.1, CG, 1909,29 (No. 6008), fig. 26; A. de Buck, De godsdienstige opvatting van den slaap inzonderheid in het

Oude Egypte, MVEOL 4, 1939, 16, fig. 4 (pap. Greenfield). Whether the head is surmounted by a feather or a year-sign, the accompanying legend indicates that the deity represents Shu! 7

H. Carter, The Reign of Tutankhamen, in: E.D. Ross (ed.), The Art of Egypt through the Ages, 1931, 46; idem, The Tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, IE, 1933, 116; C. Boreux, in: AIP 3, 1935, 101; P. Fox, Tutankhamun's Treasure, 1951, 31, caption pi. 62; A. Piankoff, The Shrines of Tut-ankh-amon, Bollingen Series XL.2,1955, caption pi. 59; Desroches-Noblecourt, Toutankhamon et son temps, 186; H. Kayser, Agyptisches Kunsthandwerk, Bibliothek fiir Kunst- und Antiquitatenfreunde 26,1969,297;

W. Seipel, in: C. Vandersleyen (ed.), Das alte Agypten, Propylaen Kunstgeschichte 15, 1975, caption of pi. 375b; I.E.S. Edwards (ed.), Treasures of Tutankhamun, cat. of exhibition in New York, 1976, 162-63; K. el Mallakh/A.C. Brackman, The Gold of Tutankhamen, 1978, caption of pi. 130; J. Settgast (ed.), Tutanchamun, cat. of exhibition in Berlin, 1980,109; J.R. Ogdon, in: VA2,1986,131; J.Zandee, in: J.H. Kamstra/ H. Milde/ K. Wagtendonk (eds.), Funerary Symbols and Religion. Essays dedicated to Professor M.S.H.G. Heerma van Voss, 1988, 178. For Shu's role of sky support, see D. Miiller,

Agypten und die Griechischen Isis-aretalogien, ASAW 53.1, 1961, 38; H. te Velde, in: StudAeg 3, 1977, 161-170; P. Derchain, in: RdE 27, 1975, 110-116; H. Willems, The Coffin of Heqata, OLA 70, 1995, 271-272, 288, 343, 467,487. For illustrations of the separation myth, see the previous note, as

well as the examples listed by R. van Walsem, The Coffin of Djedmonthuiufankh in the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden, EU 10, 1997,1.1, 31, n. 124. 8 M. Miinster, Untersuchungen zur Gottin Isis vom Alten Reich bis zum Ende des Neuen Reiches, MAS

11, 1968, 100; Perraud, Appuis-tete 1.1, 256. 9 M.J. Taupin/P. Gilbert, in: J. Capart (ed.), Tout-ankh-amon, 19502,133,203; Minister, Untersuchungen zur Gottin Isis, 100; P. Gilbert, in: Le regne du soleil. Akhnaton et Nefertiti, cat. of exhibition in Brussels, 1975, 134; N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun, 1990, 183; F. Welsh, Tutankhamun's

Egypt, Shire Egyptology 19,1993,42; Perraud, Appuis-tete 1.1,251; D.C. Forbes, Tombs - Treasures

-Mummies, 1998,479.



the illustration of the Book of the Heavenly Cow10). The sole difference with the original

interpretation is that the headrest's base is not explicitly associated with the earth god.

Finally, there is de Buck's explanation, almost completely neglected, that the headrest

is a sunrise-image, namely the raising of the sun out of the netherworld by Shu11. In his

opinion, the pillar of the headrest had been shaped as Shu in order to assimilate the king's head on the curved top with the rising sun.

The defenders of the three theories usually identify the lions on the base as the ?horizon

lions", i.e. the two lions that were believed to guard the two mountain peaks between which

the sun rose and set12. As it was thought that these mountains were at the eastern and

western extremities of the earth, the lions may be considered as indirect evidence that the

headrest's base symbolizes the earth13. It should be stressed, however, that a direct

connection (such as is attested between the lions and the sunrise, see e.g. the well-known

10 H. Frankfort, The Cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos, EES 39,1933, E, pi. lxxxi; E. Hornung, Der agyptische

Mythos von der Himmelskuh, OBO 46, 1982, 81-85, figs. 1-5. On the absence of Geb, see idem, in:

Eranos Jahrb. 49, 1980, 416. 11

De Buck, Slaap, 17,30. Cf. the not very explicit statements of E. Hornung, Tal der Konige, 19853,194 and Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 159. Evidence for Shu as raiser of the sun: (A) textual: (1) PT

? 275 [253], 519 [323], 1090 [505], 1247 [526], 1422 [564], see K. Sethe, in: SPAW, 1928, 271; de

Buck, Slaap, 15-16; (2) CT E, 35h-i [80 B]; (3) M.R. de C. Rochemonteix, Le temple d'Edfou I, MMAF 10, 1897, 125; (B) pictorial: (1) 12th hour of Amduat (with legend), see E. Hornung, Das

Amduat E, AA 7, 1963, 193-95; idem, Agyptische Unterweltsbiicher, Die Bibliothek der alten Welt, Reihe der alte Orient, 1972, 190, 193, fig. 14; idem, in: Eranos Jahrb. 48, 1979, 188-89; idem, in:

MDAIK 37, 1981, 217-220; (2) ornamentation of the bark of Horakhty (by means of two ostrich

feathers, a kneeling figure raises the sky and the sun), see A.S. Caulfeild, The Temple of the Kings at

Abydos, ERA 8, 1902, pi. v; Kurth, Den Himmel stiitzen, 81, n. 1; (3) birth of the sun in the Book of

the Day (with legend): A. Piankoff, Le livre du jour et de la nuit, BdE 13, 1942, 2, pi. i; Hornung, Unterweltsbiicher, 486-88, fig. 112; (4) inner coffin CG 61024 (with legend), see G. Daressy, Cercueils des cachettes royales, CG, 1909,43, pi. xxvii; (5) coffin Liverpool 1953.72 (figure with ostrich feather): N. Cook, in: Minerva 7:6, November/December 1996, 27, fig. 2; (6) pBerlin 3147 (figure with ostrich

feather), see Sethe, in: SPAW, 1928, 270, de Buck, Slaap, 16, fig. 5; Hornung, in: Eranos Jahrb. 48,

196, fig. 21 [= fig. 3a in the present article]; (7) stelae with a portion of the vignette of BD 15 (figure with ostrich feather), see J. Quaegebeur, in: Acta Archaeologica Lovaniensia 32,1993,14, n. 102 (with

literature), fig. 20 (Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology of the University of California 689); R.

Fazzini, Images for Eternity, cat. of exhibition in New York, 1975, No. 101 (Brooklyn Museum, Lowie

6-19880); (8) amulets (figure with ostrich feather), see G. Daressy, Statues de divinites E, CG, 1905,

pi. 8 (CG 38119); Bonnet, RARG, 685; M. Gabolde, in: Les collections egyptiennes dans les musees

de Saone-et-Loire, 1988, No. 96 (Louhans, Musee municipal); M. Dewachter, in: Cahiers d'Archeologie et d'Histoire du Berry No. 93, June, 1988,24, fig. 65. For an amulet where the figure is surmounted by a year-sign, the emblem of Heh, see A. Schweitzer/ C. Traunecker, Strasbourg: Musee archeologique, Inventaire des collections publiques francaises 43,1998, 68-69 (No. 133). This seems to indicate that, in addition to Heh's role as sky support (see n. 6), he can also play the role of raiser of the sun.

12 Sometimes the lion pair actually replaces the mountain peaks, see ? 2.2.2.

13 Fox, Tutankhamun's Treasure, caption of pi. 62. Cf. Edwards, Treasures of Tutankhamun, 163.



vignette of BD 17) is not evidenced between the lions and the separation of heaven. Some

advocates of Carter's thesis suggest that the lions might also represent the earth-god Aker14.

Stricto sensu, Aker never has the form of two separate lions. He is usually represented as

a double lion or as a double sphinx, i.e. the fore-quarters of two recumbent lions or

sphinxes fused at the rear15. Exceptionally, these double beings are divided in two half

parts16. However, as the Aker-lions are closely related to the horizon17 and as the formal

difference with the horizon-lions is very small, such an identification can perhaps not be

completely ruled out. As an earth-god, Aker is of course connected with the other earth

god, Geb18, but as far as is known he has nothing to do with the separation of sky and earth.

On the other hand, there

is clear evidence the

Aker-lions are connected o =? ^^^Z=:EEE^=====K_.x

= to

with the sunrise. So r^^^^^^^^^M^H^m whether one accepts the nf\&V^ lions on the base of the

18$^^^ headrest represent the B\ oJ0pj|//^ lions of the horizon or g

: &I T//% the Aker-lions, de |: |i%}^ 8*^1'P SI Buck's interpretation re- 1= ^> 0 = T^1^^^^^^^ i^\ V/^t-- -^ L^v\^ hi

mains the most probable IQ w$\!^^ a I one. If one compares the

, #^ fa ooo\xooo^yf n/r o (rS-.\ r\W**


heaven and earth (fig. 2), it can easily be observed that the likeness is restricted to the Shu

figure with upraised arms. The absence of the anthropomorphic figures of Geb and Nut on

the headrest is remarkable as they are essential for the illustration of the myth. If one con

fronts the headrest with images of Shu supporting Nut (without Geb), the depiction of the

sky-goddess has again only a meagre equivalent in the object's curved top. Conversely, the

headrest occupied by a head closely resembles representations of Shu lifting the sun to the

sky (fig. 3): the pillar reproduces the Shu-figure, the carved decoration on the base mirrors

the two lions and the head takes the place of the sun.

Fig. 3a-b: The raising of the sun out of the netherworld by Shu, after de Buck, Slaap, 16, figs. 5-6 (TIP papyrus Berlin 3147 and TIP coffin Cairo JE 26198).

The lack of a depiction of the sky-goddess (abbreviated as two breasts and two arms)

forms no objection, as the raising of the sun by Shu is a self-contained image. Thus, de

Buck's neglected interpretation is certainly the best because it provides a coherent

explanation of both the male figure and the lions and is supported by very similar two

dimensional representations. However, through the separation of heaven and earth not only

the sun's course along the sky came into existence, it also resulted in the first sunrise19.

Therefore the separation of Geb and Nut, the sun's course, and the raising of the sun are

sometimes combined into a single image (fig. 4)20. Likewise, representations of the raising of the sky goddess by Shu contain elements derived from both the sun's course and the

19 Te Velde, in: StudAeg 3, 161; M. Heerma van Voss, Agypten, die 21. Dynastie, Iconography of

Religions xvi.9, 1982, 12; J. van Dijk, in: Sasson (ed.), Civilizations IE, 1700. 20 See e.g. also A. Niwinski, 21st Dynasty Coffins from Thebes, Theben 5, 1988, pi. xvii [A] (coffin Odessa AM 52976); van Walsem, Djedmonthuiufankh 1.1,265-67 (b), 1.2, pi. on cover (coffin Leiden, RMO M3); R.V. Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia egizia I, 1881, 407-408, pi. clviii [2] (papyrus Louvre 3293). The latter example does not include an image of Geb. The raising of the sun and the

supporting of the sky are also mentioned together in the final hour of the Amduat, see Hornung, Das Amduat E, 193, 195.



sunrise. It is thus possible that the three explanations are all correct, and that Tutankh

amun's headrest had been designed to reflect the two basic ideas of sunrise and sky

lifting21. As will be seen further on, there are other indications that headrests are connected

with the raising of the sun, with the supporting of the sky or with both of them.

Finally, it is important to note that, without the two lions, one might be inclined to

believe the sole purpose of this headrest was to ensure Shu would raise the head of the

king. The raising of the deceased's head by Shu is mentioned in Coffin Text spell 366: ?My brow is raised up (ts) by Shu ..."22. Several scholars have called attention to the headrest

determinative of the verb ts and have connected it with Tutankhamun's object23. The

21 Cf. the general statement by Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 159: ?the air god Shu who supported with his upraised arms the sky and the setting and rising sun". 22 CT V, 27a. Middle Kingdom coffin New York MM A 15.2.2ab has on the exterior an inscription which reads: ?Recitation by Shu: I have come that I may ts your head for you, so that you are alive each day, like Re for eternity", see Hayes, Scepter of Egypt I, 1953, pi. 207. As the word ts has a somewhat uncommon box-like determinative with curious projections on its underside it is unclear whether it is the strong verb ts ?to tie, to attach" or the verb 3 inf. tsi ?to raise, to lift up". H. Willems, Chests of Life,

MVEOL 25, 1988, 171 (S3), translates it as ?to attach". Wb. V, 405.1, on the other hand, considers words with this peculiar determinative (all from PT) as a writing of the verb 3 inf. ?aufrichten, hochheben". Signs with similar projections are dealt with by H.G. Fischer, Varia Nova, Egyptian Studies 3,1996,226-27 [reference kindly supplied by B. Van Dooren]. The projections in htp ?offering table", he explains as the legs of the offering table. When used in the word hnw ?chest", Fischer believes them to represent a pair of transverse bars which keep the chest slightly off the ground. In connection with the word ch ?brazier", he thinks they might represent stones placed beneath the flat terracotta tray. For the sign in the verb ts, I would like to propose another explanation. A box with similar projections is also used as a determinative in the word ts.t ?Kasten aus Holz" (Wb V, 404.14). Possibly it represents a chest provided with poles to be carried by bearers. Such boxes, sometimes with a gable lid, are already known from representations in Old Kingdom tombs and an actual specimen was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, see Edwards, Treasures of Tutankhamun, 108-109. Perhaps Sethe had a similar explanation in mind when he designated ts.t as a ?(tragbarer) Kasten" and stated that it was derived from the verb tsi ?erheben", see K. Sethe, Ubersetzung und Kommentar zu den

Pyramidentexten 1,1935, 92 (comment of ? 184b). If this interpretation is correct, it is understandable that a representation of such a ?lifting-chest" (we would say a ?portable chest") was used as a deter

minative of the verb ?to lift". In that case the text on the MMA coffin might be another instance of Shu's role of raiser of the deceased's head. Nevertheless, it should be taken into account that, already in the PT, there appears to be some confusion between the verbs ?to raise" and ?to attach" (see Wb V,

396.12; de Buck, Slaap, 26, n. 69). 23 Miinster, Untersuchungen Gottin Isis, 100; Zandee, in: Fs Heerma van Voss, 178. There might be an other indication that the idea of the raising of the mummy's head by Shu was connected with a headrest

already in the Middle Kingdom. In the mummy mask spell of the Coffin Texts (CT VI, 123e [531 ]), as well as in the later Book of the Dead version (BD 151: Luscher, Totenbuch Spruch 151,138-39, 245) it is said ?Shu has given the raising up" (stsw). Taking into account the fact that the head of the mummy covered by a mask usually rested on a headrest, de Buck, Slaap, 15, suggested that this passage alludes to the raising of the mask-covered head by a headrest that symbolizes Shu. Unfortunately, his interesting interpretation is usually overlooked by scholars discussing this spell and a much less satisfying ex

planation is given, see R.O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts E, 1977, 154, n. 3; E. Hornung, Das Totenbuch der Agypter, 1979,508; P. Eschweiler, Bildzauber im alten Agypten, OBO 137, 1994, 142; Luscher, Totenbuch Spruch 151, 247 (g).



occurrence of the headrest-determinative in the

present context indeed seems to suggest that the

mythological conception of the raising of the head

by Shu was associated with a headrest as early as

the Middle Kingdom. Had the Shu-figure been

absent from the headrest, the presence of the lions

could be easily explained. As sleep takes place

between ?yesterday" and ?tomorrow" it is very

understandable that the head of a sleeping person

rests between the lions symbolizing these temporal

entities (BD 17). Although all these elements were

undoubtedly in the mind of the designer, the

combination of the divine figure and the two lions

Fig. 4: The separation of heaven and earth, the sun's course and the sunrise, after

Kurth, Den Himmel stutzen, 72, fig. 1 (TIP

papyrus Louvre).

proves that the symbolism is much more profound. Besides alluding to the sunrise, the

object equates the head of the king with the sun that is raised out of the netherworld.

2.7.2 A pair of arms

On more than thirty headrests the underside of the curved top is decorated with a pair of

painted or carved hands. With most of the examples the arms continue on the pillar

(fig. 5)24.

Fig. 5a-b: An Old Kingdom headrest with a pair of arms, after Sourdive, La main, 231, pi. xlvii (bottom) (Paris, Louvre E 13853).

While the majority of these ?chiromorphic" (handshaped) or ?brachiomorphic" (arm

shaped) headrests25 are of a late Old Kingdom or First Intermediate Period date, there are a few examples of the Middle Kingdom. Some of the latter are exceptional as they have an

additional representation of a sun disc between a pair of hands on the upper side of the

curved top (fig. 6)26.

24 For this headrest type, see Sourdive, La main, 229-264; Perraud, Appuis-tete, 102-116, 265-270. 25 These terms, introduced by Sourdive, La main, 229, are derived from the Latin chiro- ?hand" (itself a derivate of the Greek word cheir) and brachium ?arm", as well as from the Greek morphe ?form, shape". 26 Sourdive, La main, 234 (CV 06), pi. xlix (2-3), 241 (CV 18).



Fig. 6a-b: A Middle Kingdom headrest with two pairs of hands and the sun disc, after Sourdive, La main, 235, pi. xlix (2-3) (Cairo, JE 30967A).

The decoration of these headrests was surely meant to emphasize the supportive

function of the headrest, as Wilkinson suggested27, but it is rather unlikely this was the only

meaning of the decoration. According to Sourdive28, the raising of the head by the arms

represented on the headrest symbolizes the lifting up of the deceased to the sky. His

interpretation is based on the fact that one of the recurrent wishes in the Pyramid Texts is

for the dead king to be raised to the sky, an idea that was democratized" in the period to

which most of the headrests belong. Because according to these texts the deceased is

mainly lifted by Shu, Sourdive argued that it are in all probability his arms that are

represented on the headrests29. Perraud put forward what she rightly designated ?une

interpretation plus prosalque"30. Having observed that a sleeping person often automatically uses his hands and arms to support his head, she believed that the decoration represents the

hands and the arms of the sleeper. Thus, in her opinion, the headrests are the realization in

a durable material of what is in a sense the first and most ?primitive" headrest of all: the

sleeper's own hands and arms. Concerning the peculiar Middle Kingdom examples (fig.

6), Sourdive rejected - with good reason

- Vandier's theory that the hands on the upper curve represent ?the hand of Atum" or the goddess Nebet-Hetepet31. Unfortunately, his

alternative explanation is not convincing. According to him, the decoration of the headrests

expresses that the head is received by the ?hands of the sun", and this symbolism, he

believes, is also present in the later hypocephali32. However, that the hands on the upper

27 Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 159. 28 Sourdive, La main, 255-257.

29 Sourdive, La main, 260. This identification is further supported by the fact that, at least from the Middle

Kingdom onwards, the conception of the raising of the deceased's head by Shu was connected with a

headrest, see CT spell 366 mentioned in ? 2.1.1, and possibly also CT spell 531 (= BD 151), see n. 23. 30 Perraud, Appuis-tete, 268-69. 31 Sourdive, La main, 257-58. For Vandier's theory, see RdE 16, 1964, 60. 32 Sourdive, La main, 262.



- P'i'iii/i

=

--?k_

Fig. 7: The raising and receiving of the sun by two pairs of

arms, after Lanzone,

Dizionario di Mito

logia egizia E, pi. 246 (TIP coffin

Grenoble, Musee

des Beaux-arts

3572).

side of the top curve belong to the sun disc is not very likely. His

assumption that the Middle Kingdom specimens have a similar

meaning as the hypocephali is probably based on the observation that a head, whether lying on such a headrest or on a hypocephalus, rested

on a kind of sun image. Although there is indeed some analogy, it is

only a superficial one. Perraud's statement33 that the sun disc on the

upper side of the curved top shows in a straightforward manner the

assimilation of the head and the sun is probably correct, but it does not

explain the connection with the hands. The hands depicted on the

upper side of the curved section are probably just meant as the inside of the two hands represented on the underside34, added to visualize

even more clearly the assimilation of the curved top with a pair of

raising hands. The presence of the sun disc justifies a comparison with

some New Kingdom or Third Intermediate Period images that show the sun being raised out of the underworld by a pair of arms (fig. 7).

Although similar images from older periods are wanting, corres

ponding textual formulations already occur in the Pyramid and Coffin Texts?5 The headrests thus probably express that what is resting on the

curved section, viz the head, is assimilated with the sun that is raised

out of the underworld. The same explanation might also pertain to the

chiromorphic and brachiomorphic headrests that lack the sun disc

representation.

2.1.3 A djed-pillar A headrest amulet of iron ore, found with the mummy of prince Hornakht (a son of

Osorkon II and Karomama, Twenty-second Dynasty), has an incised representation of a

symbol with upraised arms on either side of the stem: on one side a djed-pillar and on the

other a tit-knot (fig. 8)36. Because of the latter depiction, Perraud compared the amulet with

four full-sized Middle Kingdom headrests where the pillar is shaped as one or two tit

knots31; other than this accidental remark, the decoration of this object has so far not been

33 Perraud, Appuis-tete, 266-67. 34 This was pointed out to me by Prof. H. Willems. 35 PT ? 1425 [565] and CT n, 37h [80]. In the former instance the deceased king says: ?I have leant on

your arm, O Shu, just as Re has leant on your arm". According to the second example, Shu says with

regard to the sun god: ?my arms are under him". The passage wherein the latter sentence occurs strongly reminds one of the vignette of the 12th hour of Amduat, which is usually interpreted as the locking up of the netherworld and the raising of the sun to the sky by Shu, see S. Bickel, in: A. Brodbeck (ed.), Ein

agyptisches Glasperlenspiel. Fs Erik Hornung, 1998,47. 36 P. Montet, in: Kemi 9, 1942,49 (No. 183), fig. 37, pi. x; idem, La necropole royale de Tanis I, 1947, 70, pi. lxi; Muller-Winkler, Die agyptischen Objekt-Amulette, 326 (w). 37 Perraud, Appuis-tete 1.1, 305, n. 125. For the Middle Kingdom headrests, see Ibidem, 1.1,273-74 (Ab ex/d).



discussed. As the weres, djed, and tit-knot are amulets that had to be placed on the mummy

according to the Book of the Dead (BD 166, 155 and 156), the object can be regarded as a composite amulet, combining three important funerary amulets38.

JH JpT r?h c^n I-' V_I

Fig. 8a-b: Headrest-amulet of prince Hornakht, after Montet, in: Kemi 9, 50, fig. 37.

Although this may be one of the reasons for the decoration, this interpretation does not

take into account the upraised arms of both djed and tit-knot unless one assumes that the

arms are only intended to stress the supportive function of the headrest. Another possibility is that the djed represents a support of the sky, a function of the djed thai is comparatively

well-attested39. In that case, one would expect the tit-knot to also depict a sky support.

Although there seems to be little evidence for this role of the f//-knot40, a representation of

38 Such ?composite amulets" are not unusual; other instances include a heart amulet inlaid with a ba (e.g. Andrews, Amulets, pi. 61e); pectorals with a heart scarab flanked by a djed and a tit-knot (e.g. E. Feucht, Pektorale nichtkoniglicher Personen, AA 22,1971, Nos. 205,205 A, 205C); wesekh collars combined with a heart scarab (e.g. F. Thill, in: F. Geus/ F. Thill (eds.), Melanges offerts a Jean Vercoutter, 1985, 331-41); a cartonnage wesekh with a djed, two tit-knots, and a (heart) scarab (e.g. M. Dewachter, Pour les yeux d'Isis, cat. of exhibition in Carcassonne, 1998,40-41,112, No. 71); also plaques of gold foil incised with images of several amulets (e.g. Andrews, Amulets, pi. 16b). 39 Evidence: (l)dd spsy is sometimes used as a designation of Shu or the king when supporting the sky, see J. van Dijk, in: OMRO 66, 1986, 13. (2) dd spsy is an epithet of Ptah that refers to his role of sky uplifter, see J. Berlandini, in: RdE 46, 1995, 9-41. (3) That tomb ceilings symbolize the sky can be inferred from their decoration (stars, birds with outstretched wings, Nut images or Nut texts, etc.) and from their shape (vaulted). The fact that the pillars in the tombs are often decorated with a djed (e.g. in the tomb of Nefertari QV 66) indirectly indicates that the djed symbolically represents a sky support.

Cf. D.M. Mostafa, in: GM 109, 1989, 45, 47 (with lit.). (4) According to an old theory, the djed is a combination of the four pillars of the heaven seen one behind the other, see e.g. W.M.F. Petrie, Medum, 1892, 31; E.A.W. Budge, The Papyrus of Ani, 1895, cxxxviii, n. 1 (with lit.); A. Moret, Du caractere religieux de la royaute pharaonique, AMG bibliotheque d'etudes 15, 1902, 43. This theory has some adherents even now, see e.g. H. te Velde, in: Visible Religion 4-5, 1985-86, 66. 40 It is not included in Kurth's discussion of the sky supports: Kurth, Den Himmel stiitzen, 77-104.



a female-headed tit-knot that supports the sky-hieroglyph occurs on at least one coffin of

the Twenty-first or early Twenty-second Dynasty, i.e. contemporary with the weres

amulet41. The material from which the object is made points in the same direction: iron ore

was associated by the Egyptians with the sky (cf. 4.1). Thus the decoration, as well as the

material, might express that the curved top (or the whole headrest) symbolized the sky. The

consequence is that the deceased's head resting on it lay in heaven and was identified with

A

Fig. 9: The raising of the sun by a djed-pi\\ar (19th Dyn. pyramidion from Gurob: London,

UC 14648).

the sun or another heavenly body. However, this does not

exhaust the possible explanations of Hornakht's headrest

amulet. All the decorative elements (the djed, the tit-knot and

their upraised arms) can be accounted for if one interprets the

representations on both sides of the central pillar as refering to

the sunrise. The somewhat obscure connection between the tit

knot and the sunrise will be discussed in the following section.

The djed's rather well-known contribution to the sunrise will be

addressed at once.

From the Eighteenth Dynasty on there are many

representations that show the sun on top of the upraised arms of

the djed (fig. 942)43. Sometimes the sun rests on the arms of an

ankh-sign surmounting the djed*4. There can be no doubt that in

41 Paris, Louvre E 3864: C. Boreux, Musee National du Louvre: departement des antiquites egyptiennes. Guide-catalogue sommaire n, 1932, pi. xli (right); idem, in: Encyclopedic photographique de l'art I,

1935, pi. on p. 100 (A). Already in the 2nd and 3rd Dyn. a composite symbol of the djed and tit-knot seems to occur as a sky support, see J. van Dijk, The New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis, unpub lished Ph.D., 1993, 172; R.T.R. Clark, Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, Myth and Man, 1959,237. 42

Figure after H.M. Stewart, Egyptian Stelae, Reliefs and Paintings from the Petrie Collection I, 1976,

pi. 48 [2]. 43 E.g. (1) pectorals: Feucht, Pektorale nichtkoniglicher Personen, 6 (Nos. 99 C-E); J.V. Canby, in: A. Garside (ed.), Jewelry, Ancient to Modern, 1980, 26 (No. 44: Baltimore 42.91); (2) pyramidia: A. Rammant-Peeters, Les pyramidions egyptiens du Nouvel Empire, OLA 11, 1983, Nos. 48 and 69;

(3) representations of mirrors: H. Schafer, in: ZAS 68,1932,6, fig. e (TT 76); CK. Wilkinson/M. Hill,

Egyptian Wall Paintings, 1983, pi. on p. 150 (TT 217); (4) stelae: G. Nagel, in: BIFAO 29,1929,103, n. 7 (Berlin 7279); H. Schafer, in: ZAS 71, 1935, 28, n. 3 (Berlin 7307); J. van Dijk, in: G.T. Martin, The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb, Commander-in-chief of Tut'ankhamun I, EES 55, 1989, 65, n. 7

(Cairo JE 18922); (5) tomb representations: Hornung, in: Eranos Jahrb. 48, 222, fig. 9 (TT 178); E. Feucht, Das Grab des Nefersecheru (TT 296), Theben 2,1985,80, with n. 373 (TT 65,106 and 135); J.E. Quibell, Excavations at Saqqara (1908-9, 1909-10), 1912, pi. lxxiii.l (partly destroyed). 44 E.g. (1) BD papyri: Hornung, in: Eranos Jahrb. 48,219-20, figs. 4-6 (Ani, Leiden T2 and Greenfield); (2) Mythological Papyri: idem, in: Atti Sesto Congresso Internazionale di Egittologia 1,1992,323, fig. 7

(Cairo SR 11505); (3) pyramidion: Rammant-Peeters, Pyramidions, No. 63; (4) lintel: A.M. Moussa, in: JEA 70, 1984, 52-53, fig. 1, pi. xiii.3 (of Pay); (5) stelae: A. Radwan, in: Fs Westendorf H, 1984,

pis. 1, 2b, 3a (Cairo TR 5/7/24/10 & 3/7/24/16); (6) tomb representations: Feucht, Nefersecheru, 79-81, col. pi. iii, pi. xxix (TT 296); J. Assmann, Das Grab des Amenemope (TT 41) H, Theben 3, 1991,

pi. 42; Hornung, in: Atti Sesto Congresso I, 317 (TT 96); Montet, Tanis I, pi. xxiii (Osorkon E); A. Badawi, in: ASAE 54, 1957, 168, pi. viii. For an explanation of the ankh, see Hornung, in: Eranos Jahrb. 48, 203; van Dijk, in: OMRO 66, 14.



these images the djed represents Osiris who raises the sun-god out of the netherworld at the

end of his nocturnal journey45. First, the djed-pillai is a well-known symbol of Osiris46.

Second, the djed surmounted by an ankh-sign has often arms holding a crook and a flail,

both emblems associated with Osiris. Third, the djed is often flanked by a representation of Isis and Nephthys, the devoted wife and sister of Osiris. Finally, some texts explicitly

mention this act of Osiris. In the so-called Cult-Theological Treatise, for example, the

sunrise is described as follows: ?his father Osiris lifts him (the

sun) up"47. Thus, the meaning of the djed-imagt on the headrest

might be that Osiris (as a djed-pillar) raises the head of the

mummy like he raises in the morning the sun out of the under

world. Again it seems the decoration has been designed to

assimilate the head with the rising sun.

2.1.4 A tit-knot

The tit-knot image on the headrest amulet of prince Hornakht

(fig. 8b) may also have been chosen because of its solar

background. Similar representations of a tit-knot with upraised arms occur on some contemporary coffins and show how the

sun is raised by the arms of the rif-knot48. Although it has so far

not been recognized that such images depict sunrise49, this can

Fig. 10: The raising of the sun by a tit-knot, after Niwiriski, in:

BIFAO 86, 260, fig. 1

(TIP coffin Krakow UJ

10628).

45 First explained in this way by Assmann: J. Assmann, Liturgische Lieder an den Sonnengott, MAS 19, 1969,61; idem, Der Konig als Sonnenpriester, ADAIK 7,1970,45, n. 2. See also Hornung, in: Eranos Jahrb. 48, 191; Feucht, Nefersecheru, 79-80; van Dijk, in: OMRO 66, 14. 46 This appears from BD 155 and the many representations of anthropomorphic djed-pillars, see A.M.

Amann, in: WdO 14, 1983,46-62. 47

Assmann, Sonnenpriester, 17 (hierogl. text), 20.8 (translation), 27-28.6, 43-45 (comment). For this

passage, see also idem, Liturgische Lieder, 60-61; idem, Agyptische Hymnen und Gebete, Die Bibliothek der alten Welt, Reihe der alte Orient, 1975, texts 20 (8), 108 (60); idem, Sonnenhymnen in thebanischen Grabern, Theben 1, 1983, texts 37 (8), 156 (61); M.C. Betro, I testi solari del portale di Pascerientaisu (BN 2), Saqqara 3, 1990, 27-50; J. Assmann, Egyptian Solar Religion in the New

Kingdom, Studies in Egyptology, 1995,19 (8). In pChester Beatty DC (rt. 6: 1) it is said that Re ?arises from the arms of his father Osiris", see van Dijk, in: OMRO 66, 14. According to a hymn to Osiris

(memphite tomb Horemheb and BD Ani), the sun god, described as ?The Turquoise One", is ?upon his

(i.e. Osiris') arms", see Ibidem, 14; idem, in: Martin, Horemheb I, 63, 65 (1). 48 See e.g. E. Brunner-Traut/ H. Brunner, Die agyptische Sammlung der Universitat Tubingen n, 1981,

pi. 111. 49 Depictions of this kind are not mentioned in the major studies on the images of the sun's course, see

Sethe, in: SBAW 1928,259-284; Schafer, in: ZAS 71,15-38; A. deBuck, in: JEOL5,1937-1938,305 309; idem, in: G. van der Leeuw (ed.), De godsdiensten der wereld n, 19563, 28-34; N. Rambova, in:

A. Piankoff, Mythological Papyri, Bollingen Series XL.3,1957,29-65; W. Westendorf, Altagyptische Darstellungen des Sonnenlaufes auf der abschiissigen Himmelsbahn, MAS 10, 1966; Hornung, in: Eranos Jahrb. 48,183-237; A. Niwinki, in: GM 65,1983,75-90; Hornung, in: Atti Sesto Congresso I, 317-323; O. Keel/ S. Schroer, in: ZAS 125, 1998,13-29, pis. i-iv.



Fig. 11: The sun coming forth from a tit

knot, after Kristensen, Leven uit de dood, 66,

fig. 20 (TIP coffin Leiden RMO M3/ AMM

18).

be inferred from an example where the tit-knot

is flanked by two small trees and two ba

birds with their arms raised in adoration (fig. 10)50. The trees undoubtedly represent the ?twin

sycamores of turquoise from between which Re

ascends" (BD 109 and 149), and &


solved is which god or goddess the tit-knot personifies. Of course the tit-knot is a well

known symbol of Isis, but other goddesses like Nephthys, Nut, and Hathor are sometimes

also represented as a tit-knot55.

Moreover, it seems that the tit-knot is related to Horus and Nefertem in one way or

another56. However, since at least in one sunrise representation the fir-knot has a woman's

head57, it may be assumed that these depictions express the idea that the sun is raised by a

goddess. For Isis and Nephthys, there is plenty of textual58 and pictorial59 evidence that they were responsible for the raising of the sun to the sky, but as in most sources these

goddesses perform this act together60, it is perhaps not very likely that the tit-knot

represents one of them. Nut and Hathor are also closely related to the sun. However, as

goddesses of heaven, they mostly receive the sun in the sky after it has been raised out of

the underworld; as goddesses of the dead, connected with the west and the underworld,

they usually receive the setting sun. Thus, for the moment the question which goddess the

tit-knot personifies must remain unanswered. Turning back to the headrest amulet, one may

55 J. Baines, Fecundity Figures, Modern Egyptology, 1985,60-61. He cites only Late Period instances of the personified version of the tit-knot. Representations of Isis and Nephthys as an anthropomorphic tit knot occur already on 21 st/early 22nd Dyn. coffins, see e.g. E. A. W. Budge, A Catalogue of the Egyptian Collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, 1893,39 (E. 1.1822). On the same coffin a depiction of a tit-knot surmounted by a female head is labeled ?Nut"; personal observation (the image has not been described by Budge). For a New Kingdom tit-amulet of which the loop is replaced by a female head with a Hathoric (horns-and-disc) crown, see H.D. Schneider, The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb Commander-in-chief of Tut'ankhamun H, EES 60, 1996, 41, pis. I, 23, 70. ?Normal" tit-knots (i.e. without human features) can also symbolize Isis and Nephthys, especially when they flank a djed-pillar, see S. Birch, in: ZAS 15, 1877, 33-34. A complete survey of the documentation of the personified tit knot is beyond the scope of this article and deserves a separate study similar to Amann's on the

anthropomorphic djed-pillar (in: WdO 14, 46-62). 56 Kristensen, Leven uit de dood, 66; F. Abitz, Konig und Gott. Die Gotterszenen in den agyptischen Konigsgrabern von Thutmosis IV. bis Ramses m., AA 40, 1984, 154, 157-58.

57 Coffin Cairo temp. No. 23.11.16.2: M. Saleh/ H. Sourouzian, Musee egyptien du Caire: catalogue officiel, 1987, No. 238.

58 pBerlin 3050 m, 4; the temple of Hibis; pMag. Harris, see Feucht, Nefersecheru, 80, ns. 370-71 (with lit.). For the sun on the arms of Isis and Nephthys, see Assmann, Liturgische Lieder, 197, n. 29, 202;

Feucht, Nefersecheru, 80, n. 371; Assmann, Sonnenhymnen, texts 34 (27), 41 (11). 59 (1) final tableau of the Book of Gates: E. Hornung, Das Buch von den Pforten des Jenseits n, AH 8, 1984,290,292; idem, Unterweltsbiicher, 307-308; (2) Book of the Earth: Piankoff, Creation du disque solaire, 46, pi. D; Hornung, Unterweltsbiicher, fig. 100; (3) 12th hour of the Book of the Night:

G. Roulin, Le livre de la nuit, OBO 147, 1996,1, 351-52, E, pi. xx; Hornung, Unterweltsbiicher, 489; cf. also K.P. Kuhlmann/ W. Schenkel, Das Grab des Ibi, Obergutsverwalters der Gottesgemahlin des

Amun I, AV 15, 1983, pi. 141; (4) Medinet Habu VI, OIP 84, 1963, pis. 420.B, 422; (5) pectorals: Feucht-Putz, Die koniglichen Pektorale, Nos. 48, 50-53, 122, n. 3; (6) Graeco-Roman Period writing of ?morning" (dwlw: Wb IV, 422): Schafer, in: ZAS 71, 17; Feucht-Putz, Die koniglichen Pektorale, 123; Assmann, Liturgische Lieder, 202. Isis and Nephthys also lift the sun from the Night-bark to the

Day-bark, and vice versa, see W. Guglielmi, Die Gottin Mr.t, PA 7,1991,181-82 (with literature). For other connections between these two goddesses and the sunrise, see Bonnet, RARG, 520; Feucht,

Nefersecheru, 80, with n. 370. 60

Only in CT IV, 178c-e [332] Isis acts alone: ?I am Isis ... who lifts up Re to the Day-bark".



conclude that the meaning of this part of the headrest's decoration is that a goddess lifts up

the head of the deceased like she raises each morning the sun to the sky. In retrospect, the symbolism of the headrest amulet of prince Hornakht (fig. 8) may be

summarized as follows. The object assimilated the deceased's head with the sun and

connected the raising of his head with the sunrise: like the sun, the head was symbolically

lifted by the djed-pillai and the tit-knot. However, as the two latter symbols may also

function as sky supports, and as the amulet's material has a celestial significance, the head

may also be compared to the sun that is in the sky. In all likelihood the amulet deliberately combines sunrise and celestial symbolism61.

2.1.5 A pair of scepters

A representation in the tomb of the sculptor Ipuy in Thebes (TT 217; temp. Ramesses II) shows a headrest with both ends of the curved top supported

by a was-sceptre (fig. 1262)63. K. Martin explained the presence of the

sceptres by referring to the amuletic character of the was-sign (it means

?dominion")64. However, the vras-sceptres of this headrest may also have

another meaning. From the Early Dynastic Period down to the Roman

Period this kind of sceptre was considered by the Egyptians as a support of the sky65. It is for example well-known that a/?ef-hieroglyph supported

tef Fig. 12:

Representation of a headrest with a pair of

HYw-sceptres.

61 Besides connecting the deceased with Re, the miniature headrest placed the deceased also in the

position of Osiris. As a composite amulet, it not only provided him with his backbone, his vertebrae

(djed-amulet BD 155), and with the protection of Isis (f*7-amulet BD 156), but it also raised him from his horizontal position and preserved him from the loss of his head (weres-amulet BD 166). By means

of an ingenious combination of Osirian and solar elements, the deceased's fate was thus connected with both that of Osiris and Re, and this doubled his chances to attain the immortality. Hence, the object is a nice illustration of the ?Solar-Osirian unity", a major concept in Egyptian theology, and especially in that of the Twenty-first and early Twenty-second Dynasty. For the latter, see A. Niwinski, in: JEOL 30

1987-88,89-106; idem, in: GM 109,1989,60; idem, Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries B.C., OBO 86, 1989, 38, 231.

62 Figure after N. de G. Davies, Two Ramesside Tombs, pi. xxxvii. 63 PM LI2, 316 (6: iii); N. de G. Davies, Two Ramesside Tombs at Thebes, RPTMS 5, 1927, 69, pis. xxxi.B, xxxvii, xxxviii. For this scene showing the fabrication of funerary objects, see also D. Valbelle, Les ouvriers de la tombe, BdE 96, 1985, 298.

64 K. Martin, in: LA VI, 1986, col. 1154, n. 21. For some interesting remarks on the was-sceptre and for

literature, see T. DuQuesne, in: W. Clarysse/ A. Schoors/ H. Willems (eds.), Egyptian Religion: The Last Thousand Years. Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Jan Quaegebeur I, OLA 84, 1998,622-23, with n. 51.

65 H. Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods, ed. S.N. Kramer, 1978, 38, figs. 17, 19; E. Winter, Unter

suchungen zu den agyptischen Tempelreliefs der Griechisch-Romischen Zeit, DO AW 98, 1968, 87; Kurth, Den Himmel stiitzen, 98-99; N. Guilhou, La vieillesse des dieux, 1989, 40 (129), 52 (257). According to W. Westendorf, in: SAK 6, 1978, 212, n. 25 (with older lit.), this symbolic function of the was-sceptre goes back to the long-necked animals which in prehistoric times were thought to

support the heavens.



by two was-sceptres is frequently used as a frame around representations66. Therefore, the

decoration of the headrest probably expresses that the curved upper section symbolizes the

sky. When the deceased's head rested on the curved top, it was in heaven amongst the sun

and the stars, and it perhaps fused with them.

Another possibility is that the scepters are in fact djam-staffs connected with the so

called ?side-lock wearers" (hnzktyw)61. Since these divine beings are positioned at the

eastern side of the sky68, i.e. at the place of sunrise, the staffs might indicate that the head

rest represents the eastern horizon. In that case the head of the deceased is again assimilated

with the rising sun.

Attention will now be paid to the shape of the headrest.

2.2 Shape 2.2.1 The standard horizon-sign: the sun disc between two mountain peaks

Many scholars have drawn attention to the strong formal likeness of a headrest occupied

by a head and the akhet- or horizon-sign (Gardiner N 27): just as the sun is bordered by two

mountain peaks, the head is flanked by the two ends of the headrest's curved top69. As to

the question whether the Egyptians were aware of this formal analogy, the answer is

definitely affirmative. This is not only indicated by the symbolic decoration of the head rests discussed above, but also by the evidence that will be considered further on (the

materials and colours of a number of headrests as well as a passage in a headrest-spell of

the Book of the Dead). Besides the formal similarity between a human head on a headrest and the sun in the horizon, there is also a ?behavioral analogy" of

which it is difficult to believe that the Egyptians did not notice it. In the evening man puts his head on the top curve of a headrest and

at the end of the day the sun sets between the mountains of the

western horizon. In the morning man raises his head from the

curved top of the headrest, whilst almost at the same time the sun

rises from the eastern horizon. Thus, approximatively at the same

moment of the day the human head and the sun ascend and

descend70.

//A _w

Fig. 13: A New King dom block-headrest, after Bruyere, Deir el

M?dineh (1934-1935) III, pi. xxiv.

66 Wilkinson, Symbol and Magic, 138-39. For some examples of the late 18th and early 19th Dyn., see el Mallakh/ Brackman, The Gold of Tutankhamen, pis. 92,95 (pectorals); A. Siliotti/ C. Leblanc, Nefer tari e la Valle delle Regine, Archeologia Viva, 1993, 134, 148-52, 156-157 (wall paintings QV 66). 67

This was suggested to me by Prof. H. Willems. 68 pT ? 339 [263]> 355 [265]> 360 [266]. 69

Cf. n. 2. According to Bruyere, Deir el M6dineh (1934-1935) III, 228, the Egyptians noticed the likeness as follows: when looking at the head-end of a bed occupied by a person, the headrest in combination

with the top of the person's head reminded them of the horizon-sign. For the possibility that the

Egyptians were aware that the sun is spherical and not just a disc, see L. Kakosy, in: Fs Westendorf II, 1984, 1057-1064, pis. 1-3; C. Vandersleyen, in: CdE 59, 1984, 5-13. Cf. D. Rampelberg, in: Acta

Orientalia Belgica 8, 1993, 204, with n. 22. 70 Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 159.



Perraud stressed that headrests antedating the late Old Kingdom could not symbolically

represent the horizon because the ?classic" akhet-bieroglyph (Gardiner N 27) did not exist

at that early date71. Before the end of the Old Kingdom the word ?akhet" was written with

a flat oval sign representing a sandy tract (Gardiner N 18). Perraud's statement appears to

be based on the sign-list of Gardiner's Grammar where it is indirectly mentioned that the

standard afc/ief-hieroglyph does not occur in the Pyramid Texts12. Although this is correct,

the fact that at least one Fifth Dynasty instance of the new sign is known should not be

overlooked73. So theoretically the horizon symbolism of the headrest may have been as old

as the Fifth Dynasty. With most headrests (e.g. fig. 1) the similitude to the dw-mountain is

restricted to the curved shape of the top. This suggests that the two ends of the curved top

symbolically represent the two peaks of the horizon mountain. On the other hand, the more

?massive" headrest types almost completely reproduce the mountain of the horizon. This

applies especially to the examples shaped as a solid block with a curved top, the so-called

?block-headrests" (fig. 13), attested from the Second Dynasty to

the Ptolemaic Period74. Of the headrests having the space on

either side of the pillar filled with a wall of ?negative space"75, only those that have perpendicular sides look like the dw

mountain (fig. 14). As the headrests that most clearly resemble the

horizon-mountain belong to the more simple headrest types, it is

rather unlikely that their resemblance to the akhet was primarily intentional. On the other hand, one should not underestimate the

impact of formal resemblance on matters of Egyptian religion. Just like the Egyptians often searched for a meaningful connection between phonetically related words (and establishing

) (I

Fig. 14: A New King dom negative space" headrest, after Bruyere, Deir el M6dineh( 1934

1935) III, pi. xxiv.

71 Perraud, Appuis-tete 1.1, 37. She even criticized Sourdive for his suggestion that some Old Kingdom headrests might symbolize the horizon: Ibidem, 1.1, 268, n. 349. 72 Gardiner, EG, 487, 489.

73 Tomb of Ty: P. Lacau, Sur le systeme hi?roglyphique, BdE 25,1954,34. Lacau considered the absence of the new akhet-sign in the Pyramid Texts as an indication that these texts were composed at a much earlier date.

74 For the lifetime of these headrests, see Perraud, in: Histoire et anthropologic No. 3, 25, pi. I (7th type from top). For some examples, see F. Petrie, Objects of Daily Use, BSAE 42, 1927, 35 (Nos. 17, 25, 27), as well as the instances listed by Fischer, in: LA III, col. 689, ns. 36-41. The similarity becomes

especially apparent when one compares such a headrest with a three-dimensional version of the dw

hieroglyph, i.e. the mountain-shaped base of a wooden model of the Abydos-fetish in New York (MMA 11.150.46), see H.E. Winlock, Bas-reliefs from the Temple of Rameses I at Abydos, MMA Papers 1.1, 1921,21, fig. 4

= B.H. Strieker, De grote zeeslang, MVEOL 10,1953,11, fig. 3b = Wilkinson, Reading

Egyptian Art, 132, ill. 2. 75 Designation taken from Fischer, in: LA III, col. 689, with n. 57. He mentions several examples of the New Kingdom and one of the late Old Kingdom. According to Perraud, in: Histoire et anthropologic No. 3,25, pi. I (8th type from top), such headrests are restricted to the New Kingdom (18th-20th Dyn.).



secondary etymologies), similarity in shape was considered more than just a coincidence.76

Seen in that light, there can be no doubt that once the standard horizon sign existed, and

the similarity of this sign with a headrest that happened to have this form was noticed, some

significance was attached to this resemblance. Therefore, if the block-headrests and the

?negative space" examples were not actually made to express that a head resting on them

symbolized the sun in the horizon, they most probably did contribute to the idea. Be this as it may, it seems likely that from the Fifth Dynasty at the earliest, the following symbolic equations were made:

1 human head_= sun_ 2 headrest's curved top or the

= c/w-mountain between which the sun rises

_whole headrest_and sets_ 3 1 headrest occupied by a head | = | akhet or ?horizon"

These findings do not contradict the conclusions previously reached on the basis of the

analysis of the headrest decoration. It was concluded the curved top of the headrest

symbolized the arms or hands of the divine power that raises the sun. That the latter were

closely connected with the dw-mountain is clearly shown by some Late Period Shu

amulets: the upraised arms by which the god lifts the sun disc are shaped as the dw

mountain (when combined with the sun, they form the aM^r-hieroglyph)77. The notion that

the complete headrest can stand for the dw-mountain is also perfectly in accordance with

the earlier conclusion that the headrest personifies the divine ?sun-raiser" because the latter

is usually positioned at or in the horizon (Shu78) and is sometimes even assimilated with it (Osiris79).

In a jrise d'objets on a Middle Kingdom coffin and in a vignette of the Book of the Dead

papyrus of Ani (spell 166) a red pillow is shown on top of the headrest80. According to

Perraud, this pillow stands for the sun and it stresses that the headrest occupied by a head

symbolizes the akhet*1. Muller-Winkler has pointed out that the close relationship between

76 Cf. H. Satzinger, in: J. Aksamit et al. (eds.), Essays in Honour of Prof. Dr. J. Lipiiiska, WES 1, 1997, 399-407, pi. lxiii, esp. 406-407; J. Malek, in: E. Goring/ N. Reeves/ J. Ruffle (eds.), Chief of Seers.

Egyptian Studies in Memory of Cyril Aldred, 1997, 211 (the latter is an example from state ideology). 77 E.g. CG 38110-11: Daressy, Statues de divinit6s II, pi. viii; Copenhagen, jE.I.N. 200: M. Mogensen, La Glyptotheque Ny Carlsberg. La collection 6gyptienne, 1930, pi. xxxii (A 168); London, BM EA 60439: Shaw/ Nicholson, British Museum Dictionary, pi. p. 270. 78 A Shu-figure that raises the sun is sometimes shown emerging from a Jw-mountain: (1) Mythological Papyrus: Hornung, in: MDAIK 37,218,220, fig. 3; (2) 21st/early 22nd Dyn. coffin: Chassinat, Seconde trouvaille 1.1, 51 (No. 6016), fig. 34; (3) 25th/26th Dyn. coffin: H. Roeder, in: Liebieghaus-Museum

Alter Plastik. Agyptische Bildwerke III, 1993, 337 (No. 73); cf. Gauthier, Cercueils II, pi. xxix (CG 41070). See also BD 109a, 149b.

79 In the Pyramid Texts Osiris is called ?horizon from which Re goes up" (PT ? 585a [357], 621b [364], 636c [368], 1887 [664B]), see Assmann, Liturgische Lieder, 103. 80 Perraud, Appuis-tete 1.1, 291, with n. 47. 81 Perraud, Appuis-tdte 1.1, 300, 327.



the akhet and the headrest had an impact on the fl?/*ef-amulets: the afw-mountain of some

examples is shaped as a weres%1. Although both interpretations might be correct, perhaps not too much weight should be attached to them.

2.2.2 The variant horizon representation: the sun disc between two lions

The observation that lions lived on the margins of the Eastern and Western Desert led to

the idea that the eastern and western mountain peaks between which the sun rose and set

(Manu and Bakhu) were guarded by a pair of lions83. The connection between the lions and

the horizon hills was so strong that the former sometimes replaced the latter. This appears

clearly in the vignettes of two Mythological Papyri*4: the two lions flanking the sun disc, either seated or couchant, reproduce the shape of the horizon hills, and they are even

labeled as ?Manu" and ?Bakhu". According to Wilkinson, Tutankhamun's Shu-headrest

(fig. 1) imitates such a special horizon-representation: the lions on the base of the object reflect the lions that replace the horizon hills, while the curved top of the headrest with the

head which it supported mirrors the form of the sun itself85. As the shape of the headrest's

upper section is very reminiscent of that of the mountain-hieroglyph, Perraud's inter

pretation86 is more acceptable. She believes that the headrest, when occupied by a head,

parallels the more common vignette of Book of the Dead spell 17: the curved neck-piece with the head nestling in it corresponds to the akhet, the decoration on the headrest's base

reflects the lions that flank the horizon-sign87. Thus, the lions of Tutankhamun's headrest

probably only enhance the horizon symbolism expressed by the curved top of the headrest, rather than actually composing the tf?/^-hieroglyph. The lion pair represented on two

small pyramid-shaped ivory panels on the base of a wooden headrest of the Twenty-fifth or Twenty-sixth Dynasty in the British Museum probably has a similar function88. Though

82 Mtiller-Winkler, Die agyptischen Objekt-Amulette, 311. 83 J. Yoyotte, in: G. Posener, Dictionnaire de la civilisation 6gyptienne, 1959, 151; Shaw/ Nicholson, British Museum Dictionary, 162. 84 Paris, Louvre N. 3292: Nagel, in: BIFAO 29, pi. iv (photograph)

= de Buck, in: van der Leeuw, De

godsdiensten der wereld II, 29, fig. 179 (drawing); New York, MMA 25.3.31: Piankoff, Mythological Papyri, 182 (No. 24), box pi. No. 24 (photograph)

= Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 68, ill. 3

(drawing). See also S. Schott, Zum Weltbild der Jenseitsfuhrer des Neuen Reiches, NAWG 11, 1965, 188. For the two papyri, see Niwinski, Funerary Papyri, 360 (Paris 38), 346 (New York 8). 85

Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art, 69, 159; idem, Symbol and Magic, 166. A similar view is taken by Shaw/ Nicholson, British Museum Dictionary, 162, 270. 86 Perraud, Appuis-tSte LI, 252,1.2, pi. G6n. 5. 87 In the vignette, the lions are usually designated as ? Yesterday" (sj) and ?Tomorrow" (dwlw). These

symbolic names stress that the akhet is a transitory place between sunset and sunrise. Appropriately, the headrest, which symbolizes the horizon-hieroglyph, is to the sleeper the border of sleep and waking, and to the dead that between death and life.

88 For this object (London, BM EA 26256), see E. A.W. Budge, British Museum: a Guide to the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Egyptian Rooms, and the Coptic Room, 1922, 26-27; idem, The Mummy, 19252, 248

49; E.R. Russmann, in: JARCE 34, 1997, 32-33, pis. 7-9. It has been dated on the basis of the Nubian

styled headdress and earrings of the figures on the pillar.



the two lions on this headrest occur in the same

pose (recumbent) and in the same position (on both sides of the pillar) as the lions on Tutankh

amun' s example, they differ from them in one

remarkable respect: they are positioned

perpendicular on the base. This difference,

coupled with the absence of other decorative

elements that unmistakably point to a solar

symbolism89, makes it uncertain whether they really symbolized the lions of the horizon,

although this seems, for the moment, the most likely explanation90. Even more difficult to

interpret is a wooden headrest from El Mahasna (fig. 15)91. Its precise date, its present

location, as well as its original appearance are uncertain. The only information is a drawing in Garstang's excavation memoir. It is not mentioned in the text of the excavation report,

and records about the tomb in which it was discovered, or about objects found together

with it, are completely lacking. According to the header of the plate on which it occurs, all

the objects figured on it date from the ?VIth-XIth" Dynasty. The drawing shows a frag

mentary object with the head and the forepaws of a lion and in the caption it is described

as a ?head-rest in form of a lion". However, according to Fischer the object ?seems to take

the form of a double lion"92. In view of its fragmentary condition, it is indeed possible that

the other end of the headrest did reproduce the forepart of another lion and that the whole

was shaped as two lions reclining back to back and fused into one being. Numerous double

lion amulets found on the mummies of the First Intermediate Period and the Middle

Kingdom show the form of the double lion was in vogue during the period from which the headrest seems to date93. If the headrest had such a shape, it in all likelihood represented

the god Aker. Probably the idea that the sun rose and set between two complete lions

Fig. 15a-b: A fragmentary headrest from El

Mahasna, after Garstang, Mahasna, pi. 33.

89 Unless the floral design on the rectangular plaque in the centre of the curved top symbolically represents the primordial waters. Mainly adorned with lotus flowers, which grow in watery surroundings, the

design is not dissimilar to the interior decoration of a particular group of shallow New Kingdom faience bowls usually explained as representing a pool full of lotus flowers and symbolizing the primeval waters of Nun, see in the first place E.-C. Strauss, Die Nunschale, MAS 30, 1974, and since accepted by most Egyptologists, see e.g. Desroches Noblecourt, The Great Pharaoh Ramses II, No. 41; B.A. Porter, in: S. D'Auria/ P. Lacovara/ C.H. Roehrig (eds.), Mummies and Magic, cat. of exhibition

in Boston, 19922, 138, with n. 8. In view of the widespread conception that the sun god travelled

through the Nun during the night and rose from it in the morning, it is possible the decoration of the headrest was designed to put the user in the mythological position of the setting and rising sun. If this

interpretation is correct, the two lions probably symbolize the lions of the horizon. However, they might also represent the Aker-lions. This clearly appears in a Book of the Earth representation (Hornung,

Unterweltsbiicher, 444, fig. 92): between the divided double Aker-lion the sun is raised by a pair of human arms representing the waters of Nun. 90 It was also the interpretation suggested by Russmann, in: JARCE 34, 32, n. 101. 91 J. Garstang, Mahasna and Bet Khallaf, ERA 7, 1903, pi. xxxiii. 92 Fischer, in: LA III, cols. 692-93, n. 67.

93 Andrews, Amulets, 90.



already existed in the Middle Kingdom94, but there is no conclusive evidence that a double

Aker-lion played the role of the ?horizon lions" at that early date95. Thus, depending from

the reconstruction and the date of the object, there is only a slight chance it was intended

to associate the head's rising from the headrest with the sunrise.

2.2.3 The sky

At first sight, the preliminary finding that the upper section of a headrest symbolizes the

sky does not seem to be supported by the headrest's shape because there appears to be a

great formal difference with the pet-sign: the top of the headrest has to be concave whereas

the upper side of the sky sign was believed to be flat or convex96. However, if one

reconsiders their shapes from the viewpoint of the head and the sun, some formal analogy can be observed: when the head is put to rest on a headrest, it approaches the curved, i.e.

concave, top, and when the sun rises towards the sky it arrives at the concave underside of

the sky vault. Moreover, a headrest, despite its modest height, is a kind of raised platform. This too might have led to the belief that the head that was put on it reached a higher level, i.e. the sky.

2.2.4. Some other suggestions

According to Bruyfere, the Egyptians compared the curved section of the headrest with the

crescent moon97. In his opinion, a headrest with a head resting on it symbolically

represented the moon symbol, with the effect that the head was assimilated with the moon.

Since he did not cite any evidence to support his interpretation, and since there does not

seem to be a clue whatsoever, the existence of this conception can not be confirmed.

Bruyfere also suggested -

again without any proof - that the Egyptians noticed the ana

logy between a head nestled on the top curve of a headrest and the horned sun disc of the

cow-goddess Hathor. As will be shown elsewhere, there may be some indirect evidence

that the headrest's curved top symbolized either the horns of the primeval cow that raise

the sun out of the underworld, or the horns of the heavenly cow between which the sun is

put98.

In Wilkinson's opinion, the vignette of Book of the Dead spell 110 in the papyrus of Anhai (20th Dynasty), includes an image of a bark shaped as a headrest99. Although

94 This at least indirectly appears from two Middle Kingdom mirrors, the disc of which is flanked by two seated lions, see Schafer, in: ZAS 68,1. Since there is other evidence indicating that the disc of a mirror

was considered as an image of the sun (Ibidem, 1-7), one may see in the composition of these objects a precursor of the well-known BD-vignette. 95 For the sunrise between the Aker-lions, see n. 17.

96 For the form of the sky, see H. Schafer, Principles of Egyptian Art, ed. by J. Baines after 4th ed. by E.

Brunner-Traut, 1986, 235-36; Kurth, Den Himmel stutzen, 70-71. 97

Bruyere, Deir el Mddineh (1934-1935) III, 228. 98 Hellinckx, forthcoming (n. 1). 99 London, BM EA 10472: Reading Egyptian Art, 159, ill. 4.



Perraud rightly rejected his explanation of the scene, she did not exclude the possibility that

a headrest sometimes symbolized a solar bark100. She, however, had to admit that there is

not the slightest proof of this. Nevertheless, there might be some circumstantial evidence

for this theory too, but this will be dealt with elsewhere101.

Finally, mention should be made of an interesting, but problematic observation by de

Buck. The exterior Middle Kingdom box-coffin of a certain Nakhti from Assiut (now in

the Louvre) is decorated with a headrest, both ends of the curved top of which are

supported by a lotus bud102. De Buck noted the analogy with the vignette of Book of the

Dead spell 81 which shows a large lotus flower flanked by two smaller buds and sur

mounted by a human head103. Because the two buds of the headrest-depiction correspond to the buds of the Book of the Dead vignette, whereas the head resting on the upper curve

of the headrest concurs with the head on top of the lotus flower, de Buck concluded that the headrest symbolically coincided with the central lotus flower104. There is not a single

weak spot in the reasoning itself, but there is one major problem: the vignette is not attested

before the New Kingdom, whereas the headrest-representation is definitely of the Middle

Kingdom Though not considered by de Buck, the notion that a headrest may stand for a

lotus flower has serious implications for the head that lay down on it. It is possible that the

vignette of ?the spell for being transformed into a lotus" (BD 81), besides visualizing that

the deceased has taken the shape of a lotus, also alludes to the deceased's identification

with the sun reborn from the primeval lotus105. Therefore, one could think that the special

headrest-image was intended to assimilate the deceased's head with the rising sun. How

ever, as this version of the creation myth is not attested before the post-Amarna Period106,

this is rather unlikely. Therefore, it does not seem that the Nakhti-representation can be

used as evidence for the assimilation of the head and the sun.

2.3 Material and colour

The present section will be devoted to a discussion of some headrests of which the material

and/or colour was possibly intended to associate the head with the rising sun. From the

100 Perraud, Appuis-tSte LI, 193-94. 101 Hellinckx, forthcoming (n. 1). 102 Louvre 11981; Willems, Chests of Life, 29 (siglum SIP), see E. Chassinat/ C. Palanque, Une campagne de fouilles dans la n6cropole d'Assiout, MIFAO 24, 1911, 65, pi xvii. Also G. tequier, Les frises

d'objets des sarcophages du Moyen Empire, MIFAO 47, 1921, 237; Sourdive, La main, 264, pi. Iii

(fig. 3). 103 A. de Buck, in: Oudtestamentische Studien 9, 1951, 29, figs. 4 and 6 opp. p. 20. 104 Note that the threefold composition consisting of a large central lotus flower and two smaller buds on both sides frequently occurs, see e.g. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun, 12 (the ?wishing cup"), 195

(a lamp). 105 Cf. the observations on the famous wooden statue from Tutankhamun's tomb, probably a kind of three dimensional version of the vignette: H. Schlogl, Der Sonnengott auf der Blute, AH 5,1977,17-18,33; Edwards, Treasures of Tutankhamun, 99.

106 Schlogl, Sonnengott auf der Blute, 33-34.



outset, it should be clear that the findings have to be regarded as circumstantial evidence.

The discussion will primarily focus on the interpretations put forward by others. These will

be critically examined, and if necessary, refined or supplemented.

2.3.1 Iron or haematite

Besides a few weres-amulets of iron from royal burials of the New Kingdom and the Third

Intermediate Period (Tutankhamun, Shoshenq II and Hornakht), a very substantial number

of haematite headrest-amulets is known from private burials of the Late Period107. Aufttre

believes the frequent use of iron and haematite (both called bji in Ancient Egyptian)108 is

due to the celestial symbolism of these materials109. According to him, it was thought that

a headrest made from the same material as the sky and the stars had the magical potency

to raise the deceased's head to the sky110. In Perraud's opinion, the Zyi-material is perfectly

in accordance with the horizon significance of the headrest as it assimilates the head on the

headrest with the sun that rises towards heaven111. However, it should be stressed that bji

is not a material connected with the horizon, but with the sky. Therefore, it is perhaps more

likely that the ty'i-material has simply been chosen to express that the headrest symbolized

the sky, and that, as a result, a head resting on it was in heaven like the sun and the stars.

2.3.2 Per sea wood

Wilkinson stated that a headrest was made from persea wood on account of the solar

significance of this material112, and his interpration has been accepted by Perraud113. Neither

of them mentions a museum number or a bibliographic reference, but the object to which

they allude is in all probability the New Kingdom example analysed by Ribstein and

mentioned by Lucas114. Unfortunately, Wilkinson's statement appears to be based on the

old view that the persea of the classical writers (Mimusops species) corresponds to the isd

107 For these amulets, see Muller-Winkler, Objekt-Amulette, 325-334; Perraud, Appuis-t?te LI, 300-315, 1.2, 1-18.

108 J.R. Harris, Lexicographical Studies in Ancient Egyptian Minerals, VIO 54, 1961, 166-68; E. Graefe,

Untersuchungen zur Wortfamilie bjl, Ph.D. dissertation Cologne, 1971, 30-34. 109 S. Aufrere, in: Hommages a Francois Daumas I, 1986, 36; idem, Musses d?partementaux de Seine

Maritime: collections Egyptiennes, 1987, 113; idem, L'univers mineral dans la pensEe Egyptienne II, BdE 105.2, 1991, 435, 437. A similar explanation is given by Muller-Winkler, Objekt-Amulette, 328, and Franco, Rites et croyances, 167.

110 For the connection of bji with the sky and the stars, see H. Grapow, Die bildlichen Ausdriicke des

Aegyptischen, 1924,59; Graefe, Wortfamilie ty7,13-25,40-66; C. Lalouette, in: BIFAO 79,1979,351 53; Aufrere, L'univers mineral II, 432. It is often stated that the Egyptians were aware of the meteoric

origin of the iron and haematite they used, see e.g. Wilkinson, Symbol and Magic, 84-85. Aufrere, how

ever, rightly stresses that this is possible, but by no means certain. 111 Perraud, Appuis-tate 1.1, 308. 112

Wilkinson, Symbol and Magic, 90. 113 Perraud, Appuis-t?te 1.1, 323. 114 A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 4th ed. revised and enlarged by J.R. Harris, 1962, 440, with n. 5, 445.



tree of the Egyptian religious texts. Presently, botanic experts identify the per sea with the

swjb-tree and equate the isd-tree with the Balanites Aegyptiaca115. Whereas there is ample

evidence of the ?sunrise symbolism" of the isd, there are only minor indications that the

swib was connected with the sunrise116. That the wood of this headrest was deliberately

selected in order to compare the head's rising from the headrest with the sunrise is thus

possible, but much less likely than it would appear from the statements of Wilkinson and Perraud.

2.3.3 Painted red

A number of headrests of Old Kingdom or early First Intermediate Period date have been

painted red117. Perraud suggested several explanations for this colour (e.g. that it imitates

the colour of wood), but in the end she believed that it reproduces the red glow of the sun

at its rising and setting (she refers to PT ? 854a [456] which, according to the communis

opinio, contains an allusion of the reddened sun at dawn)118. As red is indeed a colour

symbolically connected with sunrise and sunset in the horizon119 and as the examples date

from a time when the classic akhet-sign had already been introduced, it seems indeed

possible that these headrests were painted in this way to enhance their horizon symbolism.

2.3.4 Painted yellow or gilded

Some headrests of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period are painted yellow or gilded (the painted ones are undoubtedly a cheap substitute of the gilded)120. Likewise,

three headrests from the tomb of Tutankhamun are made of gilded wood121. As the

115 R. Germer, in: LA IV, 1982, col. 942; R. Germer, Flora des pharaonischen Agypten, SDAIK 14,1985, 98-100,148-149; N. Baum, Arbres et arbustes de l'Egypte ancienne, OLA 31,1988,87,263-273. These identifications were already made by L. Keimer, Die Gartenpflanzen im alten Agypten II, SDAIK 13, ed. by R. Germer, 1984, 2-4 (in this study Keimer altered his former views). See also M. Malaise, in: T. Du Quesne (ed.), Hermes Aegyptiacus. Egyptological Studies for B.H. Strieker on his 85th Birthday, DE Special No. 2, 1995, 131-36 (with additional literature). The new findings have been incorporated in an exemplary way by R. Hannig, GroBes Handworterbuch Agyptisch-Deutsch, 1995, 106, 811. 116 For the isd, see E. Chassinat, Le mystere d'Osiris au mois de Khoiak I, 1966, 247-48; E. Hermsen, Lebensbaumsymbolik im alten Agypten, Arbeitsmaterialien zur Religionsgeschichte 5,1981,124,126; Baum, Arbres et arbustes, 264-65, 274, 354. For the swlb, of which there is only some circumstantial evidence that it had a similar solar significance as the isd, see Chassinat, Le mystere d'Osiris I, 234-48; Baum, Arbres et arbustes, 263-65, 338, 343-44, 354.

117 Perraud, Appuis-t?te 1.1, 59-60, 91 (including a doubtful example of the Middle Kingdom). 118 Perraud, Appuis-tete 1.1, 60, 90-91. 119 H. Kees, Farbensymbolik in agyptischen religiosen Texten, NAWG 11, 1943, 448-52; J.G. Griffiths, in: J. Bergman et al. (ed.), Ex Orbe Religionum. Studia Geo Widengren I, 1972, 85, 89. It should be noted that the horizon-amulet, which only occurs from the Saite Period onwards, is usually made from a red material, see Muller-Winkler, Objekt-Amulette, 309; Andrews, Amulets, 89. 120 Perraud, Appuis-t?te 1.1, 59-60. 121 Cairo JE 62024,62026-27 (Exhib. Nos. 88,1225-26): Murray/ Nuttall, Handlist 1 (Carter No. 21c), 16 (Carter Nos. 547d and 548a); H. Carter/ A.C. Mace, The Tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen 1,1923, pi. xxxiv.B (in situ); Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun, 182-83; Perraud, Appuis-t&e 1.1, 130.

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